Construction starts at Harbor View housing
Posted Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2007 -------- Builders moved equipment onto the site of the new “low cost housing” project in Bodega Bay this week. Construction began on the retaining walls and preparations for pouring the foundation.
Permits for the construction were issued months ago but weather and other permit problems delayed the start of construction.
The builders will continue working as the weather permits, said Philip Young, spokesman for RJB Development, Incorporated, (R.J.B. Development is solely owned by Richard Joseph Battaglia)
The construction of the low or moderate-income housing onlot 26 marks the end of a 20-year battle. Five different developers have struggled with lawsuits, bankruptcy and a balky permit process. Local activists have filled two different lawsuits adding about 10 years to the permit process. Developers have lost more than expected in the process of waiting for permit approvals. An early developer battled with an adjacent property owner to clear a right of way for the entry road. Another developer had to defend the single access point from a Board of Supervisors, finally securing their approval. Over 100 conditions were placed on the project.
Even though building permits for the low-income townhouses and several of the 70 other homes in the subdivision have been issued, questions still remain on portions of the project. A recent appeal of a portion of the permits will be heard by the Board of Supervisors Tuesday, Jan. 30. Of the many conditions placed on the project were some related to replacement of wetland area moved from one spot to another. A previous developer constructed the streets and some of the underground utilities. That underground construction included the moved wetland area. That developer did not complete the work required. Subsequently, as the final building permits were to be issued the Bodega Bay Concerned Citizens appealed and the hearing Tuesday will determine if corrective action is sufficient.
Young also explained the Board of Supervisors will also determine if an additional area dedicated to wetland will adequately address the developer installed drains through the lower wetland area.
As part of the approval process, the county required the developer of the subdivision to include affordable housing in the plan. In the late nineties, Burbank Housing, which owns 2,500 affordable units in Sonoma County, had used community development funds to install the water and sewer on lot 26. Then legal hurdles derailed their plans.
When Battaglia offered them the property again, they declined in a letter dated September 7, 2005. As a result, Battaglia took on their obligation to the Community Development Commission (CDC) for repayment of $327,500 of Community Development Block Grant funds. They discharged that obligation on December 20, handing a check for that amount to Bob Branson of the CDC. According to their agreement with the county, every permit for an affordable unit will allow permitting of five market-price units.
The units will be managed according to strict guidelines from the county. RJB has to draw up a marketing plan to show the county how they will do so. Young says that this is a first for his company. They have managed rental units, but not affordable ones regulated by county and state law.
“It will be important to do it the way it is supposed to be done,” he said. “Our plan is to manage the units ourselves according to the county standards. Burbank Housing may come back in a management capacity. We haven’t decided yet.”
The agreement with the county requires that two of the units, one two-bedroom and one three-bedroom, go to very low-income families, defined as one earning no more than half the median income for the area, currently $28,409 per year. The rent on these two units is not to exceed 30 percent of this figure, or $710 per month. The remaining 12 units are reserved for low-income households, who can earn up to $34,090.80. Rent for these units will then be limited to $852 per month.
Until the marketing plan is completed, Young could not say specifically how tenants for the units would be found. He did indicate that his company would work closely with the county to find appropriate tenants and provide housing to them in a fair manner.
There are a few more hoops to jump through before drawings will be submitted for the remaining 65 market-rate units.
Developers first started working on the project in 1984. After an arduous permit process, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors approved the project in 1994. Bodega Bay Concerned Citizens sued the County. They alleged the County had ignored traffic issues they had raised in numerous public hearings. Initially, Sonoma County Judges agreed with the Concerned Citizens and halted the project. In 1997 California Appellate Court tossed the lawsuit saying that the Board of Supervisors had acted properly in considering traffic issues. The Appellate court affirmed the Supervisors authority to act and make political decisions.
The project proceeded to complete the application for tentative and final maps. At that time the developer began construction of roads, utilities and drainage.
Bodega Bay Concerned Citizens again raised traffic as well as doubts about the groundwater drainage system planned for the subdivision, the developer as required by state law made all those improvements.
At the very tail end of the process to receive final map approval, at the end of 2000, the developer filed a timely request for an extension of time to complete certain requirements.
The County, with full agendas for its Board of Supervisors meetings, delayed hearing the extension request. A deadline for the county to act had by then passed.
The Concerned Citizens filed suit against the County arguing the County had no authority to grant an extension once the statutory deadline had passed. They argued that the tentative map had also expired with the deadline and the developer would have to start the approvals process again.
Shortly after the Concerned Citizens lawsuit was filed the developer, Sunset Properties filed for bankruptcy. The bankruptcy resulted in the sale of the ownership of Sunset Properties to Jaco Oil of Bakersfield. Ultimately that ownership was sold to Richard Battaglia of Newport Beach.
Battaglia is a real estate investor, developer and operator with extensive holdings from Arizona to Hawaii.
Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Lawerence Antolini ruled that the Concerned Citzens lawsuit was proper and ordered the County to rescind the already granted approval of the tentative map.
The County and the developer, known in court documents as the real party of interest, appealed to the Appellate Court. That court rescinded Antolini’s order. The California Supreme Court refused to overturn the Appellate Court’s decision.
